Banquet of Beggars, by Chris Lloyd.

 

              This is the third book in Chris Lloyd’s series of the German Occupation of Paris during the Second World War.  Its Protagonist Inspector Eddie Giral is, like every other Parisian, surviving on very little with an ill-fitting and voluminous wardrobe to prove it – the only healthy-looking individuals in the City of Light are the German Occupiers;  the local Black Market doesn’t discriminate between Reichmarks and Francs:  whoever can pay the price-gouging sums will get the goods.  Naturally, the Germans are at an advantage here, having plenty of funds and not having to queue for hours for a loaf of bread, only to be turned away when meagre supplies have run out.

        The people of Paris are seething, so it comes as no surprise when Eddie is sent to investigate the murder of a local Black Marketeer, found trussed up in a miniature bath with a big lump of precious butter jammed in his mouth.  Death by suffocation, and good riddance. According to all the locals;  if ever someone deserved their fate it was THAT oily little scum.

            Fair enough, thinks Eddie, until his interviews and digging reveal more than just a passing involvement of the despised victim with various German factions of their armed forces – which brings him again into reluctant contact with Intelligence Officer Major Hochstetter, whose interest in Parisian crime is more involved and comprehensive than it needs to be:  once again Eddie has an investigation which has more skins than an onion, and all of it centred around the deprived and starving population of a beleaguered city hugely disappointed and crushed by their useless government.

            Hochstetter, too, has secrets to hide which Eddie unwittingly discovers, but what at first seems to be a bargaining chip turns once again into potential blackmail concerning Eddie’s estranged son Jean-Luc:  there are several compelling reasons for Jean-Luc’s silence, all of them having the ring of truth – but which one is the RIGHT one?

            Chris Lloyd brings to horrifying life a city under siege, a city full of desperate people calling for help which never arrives, and what they are forced to do to survive.  His minor characters are unforgettable, world-weary, cynical – and starving, and his day-to-day accounts of Paris under Occupation made this reader a whole lot more appreciative of the food which we put so regularly on our table.  FIVE STARS.  

           

           

 

 

Onyx Storm, by Rebecca Yarros.                                              

         

          Here is the third riveting book in Ms Yarros’s series of five fantasy novels about the mythical world of the Empyrean and the love affair between little, deceptively frail Violet Sorrengail and Xaden Riorson, flawed but irresistible (not to mention impossibly handsome) man of shadows, who in book two has just been converted to the Dark Side in order to save her life, which means that they spend most of book three trying to find a cure for him so that he can defeat their toxic and supremely malevolent enemies, the Venin.  So far, because of his great love for Violet and his superhuman willpower he has been able to resist the terrible call of supreme and evil addiction, but Violet knows what a struggle it is for him but loves him the more because he has endangered himself for her. 

            The problem is that the rest of the Continent in which they live and study depends on them too, to prevent the entire population from being annihilated by the Venin, and to make matters worse, Violet herself is being pursued by an ex-highpriestess of Dunne (don’t ask. Oh, OK then:  God of War).  Theophanie is evil incarnate but is confident of winning Violet over to evil:  she just has to find the right trigger.  Xaden is the obvious prize along with them both being rulers of the Empyrean world forever – or could it be her second dragon, adolescent Andarna? 

            Once again, the dragons have won my  heart:  they are such great characters, especially Andarna, who has a mind of her own – talk about the impetuosity of youth!  I have to admit that I got a bit bogged down and confused at the warfare plans and the introduction of a whole swag of new characters as Violet and Xaden travel to far-off corners of the Empyrean to try to recruit allies and converts;  fortunately Ms Yarros knows what she’s doing and keeps the whole show on the road at its usual break-neck pace – and thank the Gods that someone is still in the driver’s seat for, once again, she saves the biggest shocks for the last page.  Which is hell on the nerves, especially as it’s going to take a while for book four to present itself: do your best, Ms Yarros, and I’ll still dream of a jolly nice little dragon choosing me for a pet!  FIVE STARS    

         

 

Onyx Storm, by Rebecca Yarros.                                              

         

    
      Here is the third riveting book in Ms Yarros’s series of five fantasy novels about the mythical world of the Empyrean and the love affair between little, deceptively frail Violet Sorrengail and Xaden Riorson, flawed but irresistible (not to mention impossibly handsome) man of shadows, who in book two has just been converted to the Dark Side in order to save her life, which means that they spend most of book three trying to find a cure for him so that he can defeat their toxic and supremely malevolent enemies, the Venin.  So far, because of his great love for Violet and his superhuman willpower he has been able to resist the terrible call of supreme and evil addiction, but Violet knows what a struggle it is for him but loves him the more because he has endangered himself for her. 

            The problem is that the rest of the Continent in which they live and study depends on them too, to prevent the entire population from being annihilated by the Venin, and to make matters worse, Violet herself is being pursued by an ex-highpriestess of Dunne (don’t ask. Oh, OK then:  God of War).  Theophanie is evil incarnate but is confident of winning Violet over to evil:  she just has to find the right trigger.  Xaden is the obvious prize along with them both being rulers of the Empyrean world forever – or could it be her second dragon, adolescent Andarna? 

            Once again, the dragons have won my  heart:  they are such great characters, especially Andarna, who has a mind of her own – talk about the impetuosity of youth!  I have to admit that I got a bit bogged down and confused at the warfare plans and the introduction of a whole swag of new characters as Violet and Xaden travel to far-off corners of the Empyrean to try to recruit allies and converts;  fortunately Ms Yarros knows what she’s doing and keeps the whole show on the road at its usual break-neck pace – and thank the Gods that someone is still in the driver’s seat for, once again, she saves the biggest shocks for the last page.  Which is hell on the nerves, especially as it’s going to take a while for book four to present itself: do your best, Ms Yarros, and I’ll still dream of a jolly nice little dragon choosing me for a pet!  FIVE STARS    

         

 

 Frankie, by Graham Norton.

            I am sure anyone would agree that we are living at the moment in very uncertain times;  the world is undergoing great change politically and physically and ordinary people (thee and me) are reluctant witnesses, it seems,  to many international injustices both large and small so we must look for any form of escapism that works – and reading, the art of the story, still features hugely with the majority of us:  we need something elevating and heartwarming to remind us that the world is still a good place., and such a story is Graham Norton’s ‘Frankie’.

            In Ireland, Frances Howe’s parents died in a car accident when she was ten years old;  Frances was an only child and her care was taken over by her mother’s sister who was married to an Anglican minister who tended to address everyone in biblical phrases, always careful to stress how charitable her aunt and he were being in providing her a home.  Frances’s only happiness at this time was her schoolfriend Norah’s home in which she was always welcomed by Norah’s refreshingly normal parents;  sadly, this situation changed when Frances was seventeen:  her Uncle married her off to another clergyman who was much older than she and when her new life commenced, Frances found that the reality of being a Canon’s wife was vastly different from what she’d imagined – including the marital bed, the mysteries of which remained as opaque as ever.  Until Frances, delivering eggs to needy parishioners as part of her wifely duties, met one of the flock whose very presence ignited an eroticism with which Frances was entirely unfamiliar:  needless to say, there was no happy outcome for Frances;  her sham marriage was over, she was ‘cast out’ by her anything-but-saintly husband, and exiled to London, to share a flat with Norah.

            And Norah had been having adventures of her own, deciding that the company of women was infinitely more preferable than men, but she was instrumental in ‘retraining’ Frances in the secretarial arts – shorthand and typing, filing etc – to an efficiency that earned Frances a trip to New York with her new Boss, a woman of ‘that’ persuasion hoping to change her new secretary’s mind as to her sexual preferences – which didn’t happen, and after a disasterous start to her time in The Big Apple, Frances becomes Frankie and her real life, with its stratospheric highs and dismal lows, finally begins.

            Graham Norton in his Acknowledgements pages says that his editor always makes him feel like a novelist rather than a chat-show host with notions.  Well, the wonderful protagonist he has created is a shining example of his talent at story-telling on the grand scale:  I defy anyone to say that they were not fully engaged with Frankie’s adventures, from her sad beginnings to her loving end, for this is a story of love in all its colours and stripes, and that is what the world certainly needs at this troubling time.  FIVE STARS. 

              

 

 

 

 

 

The Cracked Mirror, by Chris Brookmyer.

            Penny Coyne (yes, really!) is a very elderly librarian from a small Scottish village:  what makes her notable is that she has highly reputable skills as an amateur detective, solving numerous cases that have foiled many police, and forcing them to call on her services more than they would wish to.  Eat your heart out, Miss Marple!

            She is about to meet Johnny Hawke, typical burnt-out LA detective, with a reputation not only for putting away the bad guys (some of them in a very permanent fashion) but also for inadvertently causing the demise of every partner he has had so far:  in light of that fact, are Ms Coyne’s days numbered?

And why would they ever meet except for both receiving invitations to an impossibly High Society wedding at a very grand Scottish Mansion now being run as a hotel – neither of them know either bride nor groom.  Which is enough to prick anyone’s curiosity, so here they are, Penny in tweed skirt and twinset, and Johnny, trying not to look like an LA cop in a very cheap suit.

            The stage is set for one of the cleverest Whodunnits I have read for years, and the Big Reveal doesn’t happen to the very last page – and even then presents more questions than answers.  Johnny has ended up in Scotland because he’s on suspension for being the cause of death yet again of his latest hapless partner and has been told by his boss to ‘get out of town and stay out’.

The wedding invitation arrives at a very welcome time though he is worried as to how the bank account will survive the experience, especially in light of the Great and the Good arriving for the wedding;  they have no such financial worries.  The bride and groom, too, seem madly in love – until the bride reveals to Penny last-minute cold feet, then she disappears just before the ceremony is to begin – and is found dead, a presumed suicide, in a similar fashion to the circumstances of the crime Johnny was investigating in which his new partner died, and further investigation reveals that this is the third similar death in similar circumstances. 

            It is not long before the brawny brainy gumshoe recognises a kindred spirit in the woollen-clad, keen observer of human behaviour  -  ‘there are always consequences when you break any rule, Johnny’ – and they combine to make a formidable team.  Until , further into this dazzling story, the reader is aghast to realise that Johnny and Penny are not bona fide protagonists, (spoiler alert) but characters in a  brilliant video game:  no-one is what they seem and Chris Brookmyre has tricked us all with his marvellously inventive characterisations and plotting:  what a booki!  What a writer!  What a game!  SIX STARS     

 

The Spy Coast, by Tess Gerritsen.

        

            Where do old spies go when it’s time to retire?  (always assuming they last that long.)  In Tess Gerritsen’s first novel in her new series, five of them have moved to a  small seaside town in Maine, on the North-Eastern Canadian border.  It’s a very tame life now for these ex-CIA veterans but they meet regularly and try to be content with their safe but boring new circumstances – until a strange woman – obviously from the agency – confronts one of their number at her home, full of questions that she has no intention of answering.  Maggie Bird is happy with her new life;  she has had a career of great danger and enormous rewards which led to the most tragic event in her life;  now she is content to live in peace on  the chicken farm she purchased, and has no intention of getting dragged into any ructions caused by the last (and worst) job she was on.  She sends the woman away with instructions not to come back.

            But she does:  as a corpse, laid out crucifixion-style with two bullets in her skull, all done while Maggie was meeting with the other exes for Martinis.  Her neighbour appraises her of this when he sees the police-car lights in Maggie’s driveway.  It would seem that Maggie and her friends are going to be dragged back into the old job with its old mysteries and those seeking revenge whether she wants it or not.  To make matters worse, the local (acting) Police Chief, Jo Thibodeau, is not satisfied with the friends’ version of what they were doing at the time of the murder:  drinking Martinis and calling themselves the Martini Club was not befitting the seriousness of the crime committed in Maggie’s driveway, and how come Maggie has the best security cameras that money can buy – for a chicken farm?  And Jo would appreciate it if she could show them the footage NOW, please, which only reveals an SUV with tinted windows and a heavily-disguised shape delivering the body.  Which satisfies no-one. And sends Jo Thibodeau away with the knowledge that somehow, some way, Maggie Bird and her friends know a lot more than they are saying and that makes her determined to find out what, and who they really are.   She may never have left Purity, Maine, but that doesn’t mean she can’t be good at her job, so there!  She’ll keep on digging whether they like it or not.

            Ms Gerritsen has written a perfect airport thriller, strong, believable protagonists,  (read the Author’s Note), mile-a-minute action, and a plot that takes us all over the world without losing its credibility. FIVE STARS

( And Book Two is available at your library:  ‘The Summer Guests.’  Can’t wait!)      

 

Sea Change, by Jenny Pattrick.

 

            Jenny Pattrick is New Zealand’s premier historical novelist – who hasn’t read ‘The Denniston Rose’ and ‘Heart of Coal’ - and IF you say to your shame ‘not me’-  then it’s time to start gorging yourselves on her lovely stories of early New Zealand and its turbulent history, BUT! 

            This is a contemporary novel, dealing with and exposing 21^st century problems and the differing solutions according to those with the power, and what’s available those who have none.

            A huge earthquake devastates the top of NZ’s South Island;  the damage and loss of life is huge and all the North Island’s first responders are sent to the worst-hit areas;  meantime, the quake has struck a small Kapiti Coast village not far from capital city Wellington – the damage from that was bad enough, but a huge tsunami has inflicted a fatal blow to property and people living close to the beach.  Those few whose houses are on higher ground fare better than others, like Lorna, a retired public servant, and her neighbour Toddy, a retired engineer – who is also blind.  And their next neighbour is Eru, 9 years old and an orphan:  his father was fishing in his dinghy when the tsunami rolled in. 

            When everyone eventually meets up at the school hall (still standing, but the school isn’t) there is a very disparate group:  those who want to stay and get electricity and communications up to speed again;  those who want to get out immediately – not so easy – there is only access by sea; two gay plumbers (the Plumbelles) who will try everything to get fresh water piped again if they can only find a source;  and several jack-of-all-trades including a brilliant engineer (‘but he’s a recluse!’) who are undaunted by the situation – if only they could get some assistance from Wellington, which is sending manpower, firepower and dollars to the worst-hit in the South Island.

            Eventually the word from Wellington is that the village is too inaccessible to save:  there will be a managed retreat.  Which is not acceptable to everyone who has worked so hard to get everything up and running again, and definitely NOT cricket when it is found that the ‘managed retreat’ is to enable Lorna and Toddy’s very rich neighbour Adrian Stokes to eventually buy up cheaply all the undamaged land to build an exclusive private resort:  betrayal of the worst kind, and so easily done with friends in the right places.

            Jenny Pattrick has charmed us yet again with a story of triumph over adversity that could be ho-hum and mawkish in other hands;  instead she shows us all what logic, kindness and common sense can achieve when backs are against the wall – in a very logical, kind and common-sensical way!  SIX STARS.